The Designation Selection Guide
(Battlefields) introduces the Designation Considerations saying the site
must be: “capable of close definition on the ground.”

After Historical Significance,
Location is discussed: “To be registered, a battle’s location must be
securely identified. The nature of warfare is such that boundaries to an
area of conflict are rarely precise. However, for inclusion in the Register the
areas where the troops drew up (a), deployed and fought (b) whilst
in battle formation must be capable of definition on the ground (1), and
a reasonable boundary to this area must be defined (2). It is generally
the case that the earlier a battle the less the precision can be offered in
terms of where fighting took place; nevertheless, it remains a requirement for
designation that a battle can be placed within specific and particular
topographical location (3) with a fair degree of probability.”(my
highlighting and numbering)

The three components of ‘securely
identified’ are listed as

1.‘Capable of definition on the ground’ which was done in the Consultation
Report map, and we know how little the landscape has changed since 1066.

2.‘A reasonable boundary to this area can be defined’ bounded by the river
Ouse, the Ings, sections of the moraine and the edge of the flood plain.

3.The ‘battle can be placed within specific and particular topographic
location’.

The 3 battle-formation tests for
‘location’ are described in the literature and have been tested using relevant
archaeology (see overleaf on the annotated map).

a)The three major assembly “areas where the troops drew up”(The numbers
below refer to the comments on the map overleaf)

o1 King Harald’s ‘Best Men’

o3 The Ford where ‘the second arm[y]’ of the
Norse invaders assembled.

o4 Where the defensive shieldwall covered the
area between the wetlands and steep banks.

b)The areas where they “deployed and fought” can be clearly defined

o7 the ford was where King Harald sent his
weakest troop to tempt Earl Edwin to drive them back into the muddy ford.

o4 the ditch was where King Harald ordered
his troops to enter with a trumpet blast as he prepared his outflanking move.

o2 The outflanking move by the Ings.

c)Plus for the battle of Fulford we can define a significant ‘retreat
phase’

o5 & 6 are the areas where the English
disengaged.

The map below provides the strands of literary, landscape,
tidal, ecological or physical evidence to identify these locations on the
ground. The underlying base map has a hatched area which is the zone that
English Heritage proposed to designate. The proposed designation area has the
battle action at its heart and provides the necessary buffer zone to ensure that
the visual integrity of the site will not be thoughtlessly compromised and which
EH says is included because it might have ‘archaeological potential’ related to
the battle. This battle, like others in the era before cavalry and ballistic
weapons, is compact.

All the test that comprise ‘securely identified’ with ‘a
fair degree of probability” are passed according to the evidence below.